Due to a disease, Gene Purdie had been living life without ever having seen his wife or son properly. Then, they went on TV.

Image: YouTube/eSight / Facebook/Joy Christina

Like many men his age, Gene Purdie had settled down into marriage and fatherhood. But in 2015 the Denver native’s situation differed to that of his peers in one key respect. Simply put, Gene was never able to see his wife Joy, or his son Lincoln, properly.

And that was the case because, unfortunately, Gene has a disease that seriously affects his vision. What’s more, it’s something that has afflicted him all his life. However, he was not fully diagnosed with the problem until he was 16 years old.

At that time, Gene was given the news that he had Stargardt disease, an inherited condition that affects the retina. People with Stargardt tend to lose some vision as a child, or in adolescence. As for the condition itself, it’s one of many similar disorders known collectively as juvenile macular degeneration, or JMD.

In addition to Stargardt disease, JMD covers conditions such as juvenile retinoschisis and Best disease as well. And much like we previously mentioned, these disorders also come into effect during a person’s younger years. So on that note, the medical website WebMD provided more information on Stargardt.

Indeed, the website’s post read, “[Stargardt disease is] the most common form of JMD. It’s named after German eye doctor Karl Stargardt, who discovered it in 1901. It affects about one in 10,000 children in the U.S. Although the disease starts before age 20, you may not notice vision loss until age 30 to 40.”

Image: U.S. Army/Spc. Winterlyn Patterson

From there, the medical post went on to outline the signs that you would experience if you were developing Stargardt disease. It continued, “It’s usually diagnosed by yellow-white spots that appear in and around the macula [centre of the retina]. If they cover the back of the eye, then it is called fundus flavimaculatus.”

As the post continued to explain, “These deposits are an abnormal buildup of a fatty substance produced during normal cell activity.” Unsurprisingly, this inherited disease can have a major impact on a person’s life, especially knowing that there’s no way to treat it. As it is, it’s something that they must learn to live with, although adaptive training can help.

And although it’s uncommon for sufferers to completely lose their sight, the condition can nevertheless severely deteriorate their vision. Given time, in fact, their eyesight may be as poor as 20/200 grade or even worse. This means they have to be 20 feet closer to something that someone with normal eyesight can see from 200 feet away.

As for Gene, he is only able to see small amounts through his peripheral vision. Worse still, he can’t see anything directly in front of him at all. The result, then, leaves him assembling scenes in parts, much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. For instance, if the dad wants to read something, he’ll use his camera-phone to zoom in on the text.

However, Stargardt disease doesn’t close Gene off completely from the world. Indeed, he can still perform many day-to-day activities – like cooking, even if he has to lean in close to a cookbook. And despite the difficulty involved, Joy has maintained that he’s still a better cook than her.

Yet even though Gene had come to terms with his lack of vision some time ago, the future didn’t look promising. In fact, in a 2015 interview with The Rachael Ray Show the family said they’d constantly been told there was no cure for Stargardt disease. And, as a result, they believed that there was nothing that could improve Gene’s vision.

In addition, Gene had not been able to see his wife properly for the whole time they’d known each other. Nor, indeed, was he totally able to envision his baby boy. But then one day Joy turned on the television. And, as she would later reveal in the 2015 interview, she saw something that made her start “shaking and crying.”

Specifically, Joy was watching an episode of The Rachael Ray Show featuring a woman who also had Stargardt disease. Now, she had been given technically advanced electronic glasses to help her condition. And, after putting them on, she was able to see much more clearly after five years of deteriorating vision.

Indeed, the woman was able to see her sisters within moments of looking through the special glasses. So, after thinking that there was nothing that they could do to help Gene, Joy was overwhelmed. For there was now the prospect that her husband might one day be able to see their son.

And, as a result, Joy started writing a letter toThe Rachael Ray Show. In it, she shared their story from the very beginning. And it may have touched someone involved in the program, as not before long the couple were invited onto the show, too.

Naturally, Gene was excited to appear on the show – especially if it enabled him to finally view his loved ones. In the interview captured before he tried the glasses, he even remarked, “I don’t think there’s words for the moment that I first see my family.” It was sure to be an emotional ride, then.

During that interview, we are given a glimpse of Gene and Joy’s life at home, and more information on their background. In fact, Lincoln’s mother recalls the time when she attempted to grab her future husband’s attention while single. But her initial efforts weren’t entirely successful, as we’ll now find out.

As Joy goes on to explain, “When we actually met, [Gene] kept walking by. [And] I’m waving trying to get his attention, and he keeps walking past me. So the next time I saw him, I was like, ‘What’s your deal?’ He told me that he was blind. And I was like, ‘Okay. Well, you can come sit with me!’”

As for the letter she sent to the show, Joy shares some of its content. And it reads, “I would love to share a little bit about my husband’s eyesight. I was told that he was born with Stargardt disease, but it was not until he was almost 16 years old that they were able to diagnose it.”

From here, Joy touches upon Gene’s attitude to the situation, knowing that the disease couldn’t be treated. So given previous experience, she remained skeptical about the original segment on The Rachael Ray Show. There, a woman was helped to see with the help of the so called trailblazing glasses. But as we know now, those doubts were quickly turned on their head.

Joy continues, “Although I heard Rachael Ray say that they were going to help someone see, I still did not believe it because we’ve always been told ‘no’. I literally began shaking and crying for the next hour or more at the thought of my husband being able to see my face for the first time…to see our son for the first time.”

At this point, Joy then breaks down in tears after reading the letter, with Gene comforting his wife. After this, we catch another glimpse of the couple playing with Lincoln, before the youngster offers his dad a big hug. With this, the opening segment comes to an emotional end.

Following on, the family is welcomed onto the stage, where they’re introduced to Taylor West from eSight. Now, this is the company which makes the special eyewear. And West explains that the glasses have a camera inside that records what the person wearing them is looking at. Then, an interior computer enhances the images, allowing the person with poor vision to see more clearly.

At this point, Rachael Ray herself shares something with Gene and the audience. She says, “What I love about watching Gene’s story in that piece is how full of life [he is]. You have not let this limit you or bum you out. You are cooking, you’re kicking [Joy’s] butt in the kitchen!”

Ray adds, “You know, you struggle so hard to read, and embrace the sight that you do have. I just love that about you. You’re such a great human being. Great human being.” Then, the big moment finally arrives for Gene, Joy and Lincoln as West prepares the special device.

Off the back of West’s explanation to the audience, Gene is given the all-important glasses to try on at last. And they are connected up to an in-studio screen, enabling the audience to see what Gene is looking at. Meanwhile, the eSight employee adds that the glasses should temporarily give Gene something close to “typical eyesight.”

And sure enough, after the glasses work their magic, Gene can see his wife and son for the first time. In the highly emotional first few moments he manages to say, “Wow, she’s pretty” when he sees Joy. From here, the dad then looks at Lincoln through the device.

At this point the audience bursts into applause, and Joy begins to cry as she holds their son. Furthermore, Gene explains how he is now able to see their whole faces at once – something he couldn’t do before. Given the situation, the Denver native was unsurprisingly emotional.

As a result of this, Ray starts to tear up as well, saying, “We’re all crying now! We’re gonna freak the baby out!” Then, the host switches her focus back to Joy, as she looks to gauge the mother’s reaction. “How you feeling?” the former asks, to which Gene’s wife replies, “Hopeful.”

After this, Gene turns his attention to the audience and is amazed that he can see many of the faces looking back at him. But he isn’t just taking in the whole studio. In fact, Joy’s husband is scouring the crowd for two people in particular, as we’ll soon find out.

Yes, Gene’s parents are sitting in the audience, too – and he also hadn’t been able to see them clearly before. Once he finds them, Ray motions his mom and dad to stand up. Then, they come down to join Gene on stage so he can get a closer look at them.

When Gene is asked by Ray how he feels about his improved vision, he fights back tears and says, “It’s overwhelming.” But that’s not all, though, as we’re about to find out. For before the show ended, there would be one last surprise for Gene and Joy’s small family to take home.

That’s correct because, in an incredible gesture, eSight gives them the electronic glasses for free. So now Gene will be able to see his loved ones on a regular basis. While he’d always been told that there was nothing that could be done, his luck had changed thanks to technology.

As for the glasses, host Ray reveals that they would normally cost around $15,000, as the show comes to an end. Now, the segment was eventually uploaded on YouTube in November 2015 by eSight’s official channel. And since then, the emotional video has made a fairly big impact online.

Indeed, the post has earned almost eight-and-a-half million views on YouTube, while also clocking up over 9,000 likes. In addition to that, the video has generated almost 800 comments, with online users flocking to share their reactions. On that note, a few of the messages really stood out from the rest.

“What a blessed love,” one user wrote in the YouTube comments section. “The wife is lucky because she knows this man loves her not for her looks. And the man is, too, because he found a wife who loves him despite [his condition]. Blessed family.” However, the kind messages didn’t end there.

A fellow YouTube user, called Dan, wrote, “[Gene] is so lucky that God sent a guardian angel as beautiful as [Joy]. Damn dude, you won’t [find] another woman like that for a century. [As] for the video, this makes me melt inside with happiness!” Unsurprisingly, those sentiments were shared by many other individuals on the website.

Meanwhile, another user was hopeful that eSight’s work would stretch to some countries outside of the U.S. as well. The person wrote, “Wow, what awesome technology to help [the] visually impaired to see our beautiful world. Good work eSight! Please bring this technology to India and other countries around the world.”

But as the comments continued to flood in on YouTube over the next few years, one other message stood out. For you see, one of Joy’s relatives responded to the video, clearly delighted by what she saw. And her words didn’t end there either, as she went on to share her gratitude.

Yes, the relative, who was posting under the name Darlene Richards, wrote, “My beautiful daughter Joy and son-in-law Gene with baby Lincoln. My grandson. Thank you eSight for giving these glasses to Gene to be able to see my daughter for the first time. WHAT A GREAT DAY!” In turn, that particular comment earned close to 300 likes.